by M. D. Cooper
“Tony!”
In her surprise, Erin dropped her arm and her jaw. Martin’s attacker was her friend, the planetary engineer—and yet it wasn’t. Tony’s expression looked like it belonged to someone she didn’t know. It was full of malice, resentment, and loathing. It was as if she was seeing him for the first time.
His arm was raised and he swung it down toward her, her eyes catching the silver glint of a knife blade as it moved through the water.
She screamed.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
STELLAR DATE: 05.25.8941 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Marine Park, Ithaca
REGION: Troy, New Canaan System
Martin stared at the man trying to break into the submersible. He looked familiar, but Martin couldn’t place him. Jude was quietly crying. The reddened water had risen to Martin’s knees.
What the hell can he possibly want from us? Our engine’s dead, we can’t stop him! What possible harm does this lunatic think a biologist and a small child can do to him?
Martin looked around his vessel for something he could use as a weapon. The submersible didn’t carry any guns; if he’d been out in the water working by himself, he might have carried a knife, but that kind of implement wasn’t any use inside the small vessel. Manipulators were attached to the outside of the vehicle and operated from within, but without power, they were useless.
With the electronics dead, the man was fiddling with one of the emergency mechanical locking mechanisms on the door. Martin guessed he didn’t know how to operate it. As soon as their attacker figured out how to open the vessel, though, they were dead.
Maybe not Jude. What kind of monster would kill a child for no reason?
If Martin could distract the man long enough, Jude could be saved. Eamon had said the emergency services were on their way; they could spot Jude in the water with thermal imaging.
Martin took his son gently by the shoulders. “Jude, please listen to me carefully. You’re going swimming. Would you like that?”
“No, Daddy. I want to stay with you.”
“I know, but you can’t. Very soon, the submersible will open and it’ll fill up with water. When that happens, I want you to swim up to the surface. When you’re up there, swim in circles, OK?”
As he spoke, Martin unfastened Jude’s safety straps and pulled his shirt over his head. His son was already barefoot.
“But I want to stay with you.” Jude began to sob.
“We can’t do that today. I’m sorry. It’s very important that you do what I’m telling you. Carry on swimming in circles for as long as you can. Don’t give up. Promise me you won’t give up. Someone will come and find you.”
The attacker’s knife scraped along the roof as he worked on the lock with his other hand. Jude started and looked up, but Martin caught his face and turned it toward his own.
“Promise me, Jude. Promise Daddy you won’t stop swimming, no matter how tired you get.”
Jude nodded. “I promise.”
Martin hugged him.
“Why are you crying, Daddy?”
Martin tensed with shock. He let go of Jude.
“What’s wrong, Daddy?”
“Daddy,” Jude repeated. “Do I have to go swimming now?”
“No, maybe not. Mommy Erin’s coming.”
“She is?!” Jude jumped up and started looking around wildly. “Where is she?”
He shrank backward into Martin’s arms when he saw the man. Martin realized his young son was about to witness something very unpleasant. He held the boy to his chest.
“Look this way, Jude. Don’t look anywhere else.”
Holding the back of the boy’s head firmly so he couldn’t move it, Martin looked at the man. He wanted to see his face when he died. He wanted to know his son’s attacker was dead. Through the murky water and the distortion of the submersible’s roof, Martin looked the man in the eyes.
But the man turned. He must have had drones deployed to see Erin’s approach. She swam into view through the opaque water. She was wearing an EV suit and carrying a knife. The man was facing her. But Erin hesitated.
Why isn’t she stabbing him? Why isn’t she killing the bastard?
The man’s knife was high. He brought it down in a savage blow that cleanly sheared off Erin’s arm. Gouts of blood gushed out, bursting into the water.
“Daddy, you’re hurting me!”
Erin’s arm, still clutching her knife, drifted away. She was defenseless, and the attacker was raising his arm for a second blow.
“Jude, you must go swimming now. I’m opening the submersible. Swim straight up and don’t look down.”
Martin flicked the submersible’s locks open.
“Hold your breath.”
Water spurted in. Martin reached for the final lock.
He kissed his son. “I love you.”
He pushed up the roof and held tight to Jude as a wave of incoming water swept them out of their seats. He launched Jude upward with all his strength, and saw the little boy’s legs kicking as he disappeared toward the sky.
Martin swam down, heading for the patch of horribly stained water. The attacker was slashing at Erin as she lay maimed and struggling feebly on the seabed. Her EV suit was cut open, and bloody bubbles were pouring from the gashes. She was reaching, trying to take the knife from her own dead hand.
The man lifted his arm to strike at her again, but then Martin was upon him. He caught the man’s arm on his upstroke and yanked the knife from his grasp. Martin swung the blade at the attacker, slicing into his shoulder at the base of his neck.
The man clutched at his wound and twisted to take a frightened look at Martin. Kicking powerfully and using his remaining good arm, he swam away, leaving a trail of blood.
Martin pulled himself down to her, encircled her arm above the stump, and crushed it to stem the flow of blood.
Martin looked up, hoping to see where the attacker had gone, hoping to see Jude’s legs at the surface, but the water was too cloudy, and he couldn’t see anything above.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
STELLAR DATE: 05.25.8941 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Isa’s Gallery, Heliopolis, Ithaca
REGION: Troy, New Canaan System
Isa reached her gallery and ran inside, taking the elevator to the upper mezzanine. She hoped to hell that Erin could do something to help Martin and Jude, though she didn’t know what. Erin was up at Messene Station, and their husband and son were at the bottom of the sea. Erin would make a great Marine, but she couldn’t work miracles.
Isa didn’t know what she could do to help either, but she was going to try her hardest.
She opened the roof hatch and raced up the stairs. In another minute, she was in her aircar and flying toward the Sea of Marmara.
She desperately wanted to know what was happening at the marine park, but if Martin was in a dangerous situation, the last thing he needed was her questions. The same with Erin. If she was attempting a rescue, Isa didn’t want to distract her.
Ithaca was flowing along beneath her. She passed over the Scamander Plain and the ribbon of its river. She’d flown the route so many times since they’d arrived in Troy…. She never imagined she would be passing these places with terror in her heart.
She couldn’t face even the idea of anything bad happening to her family. Her life would never be the same.
She was at the coast. Far below, their house stood at the edge of the cliff. They had passed so many happy times there, and some angry ones too. She would give anything to have even the bad period of their lives return, as long as they were all together and safe.
Martin’s location was calling her like a beacon. Isa sought out Erin’s location too.
She’s near him! How did she do that? Isa marvelled at the fact that, only a few minutes previously, Erin had been up at the space station. She must have flown down into the sea. Maybe that’s what I should do, though I’m not sure what I will be able to do under the water.
Joy and fear burst in her.
Isa flew the aircar lower until it was a few meters above the waves, then she slowed to its minimum speed. The sea looked rough.
How is little Jude going to survive in that water? He’d never swum in such high waves before. Martin had only ever taken him out when the sea was calm. And how am I going to find him?
Isa checked the aircar’s specs. She’d only ever used the basic flying controls, but maybe…. She found it. Thermal imaging. If Jude was still alive, his little body should be warmer than the surrounding water. She activated the scanner.
The display was black filled with the grey crests of waves. No warm bodies in sight.
Where is he? Isa turned and made another pass above Martin’s location. Where is my son?
Then she saw the lighter spot. The shape of it was unmistakeable.
Isa looked out of the aircar and saw Jude’s head and the tops of his shoulders as he bravely paddled, the waves lifting him up and sending him plummeting into their troughs.
She had flown right past him.
She turned the aircar around to return to the spot, but he was gone.
He’s gone under! Isa’s throat constricted.
But then Jude’s head popped up. He shook the water away and continued to paddle. Isa breathed a sigh of relief.
Now that she’d found him, she had to figure out how she was going to reach him. He probably couldn’t last much longer, and there were no boats around. There was only one thing for it.
She pulled off her shoes. Peering out the window, she looked for Jude again. When she found his little brown head, she fixed her gaze on him.
As the aircar swept closer to her son, Isa set the vehicle to hover and opened the door. A strong wind immediately whipped it out of her hand, but her gaze didn’t leave Jude.
She climbed out of her seat and clung to the edge of the doorframe. When she was as close to her son as she was going to get, she jumped.
The water that she smacked into was a cold shock. She plunged deep and then kicked for the surface. A wave lifted her high and tugged her along. She twisted, craning her neck, trying to catch sight of her son. The aircar was hanging in the air not far above, its door moving in the wind.
“Jude? Jude!”
“Mommy!”
His voice was faint, but Isa could tell its direction, and she swam toward the sound. Then a wave crashed down on her back and forced her under. She clawed her way to the surface again.
“Jude!”
“Mommy!”
Isa tore through the water. Another wave came, but this one raised her up and rushed her forward. Suddenly, Jude was right in front of her. She grabbed him, weeping with relief as she finally held him.
“Hold onto me, sweetheart. Put your arms around my neck.”
Jude felt cold. His lips were pale, and goosebumps stood out all over his skin, but he was alive.
“Mommy Isa, you found me.”
“I did. You’re safe now.”
Though she said it, Isa wasn’t sure. There was no sign that anyone was coming out to find them; she’d tried to contact Heliopolis Emergency Services, but she didn’t receive a response.
“Daddy told me to swim. He told me I mustn’t stop, and I didn’t.”
“You’re a good boy. A very good boy.”
“There was a bad man. I saw him. He had a big knife.”
“D-did he?”
“The man won’t hurt Daddy, will he? Or Mommy Erin? Daddy said Mommy Erin was coming.”
“She came Jude, she came.” However the heck she’d managed that!
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
STELLAR DATE: 05.25.8941 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Marine Park, Ithaca
REGION: Troy, New Canaan System
Tony’s right shoulder burned and his arm on that side was almost useless. He lowered both arms to his sides and propelled himself through the water with his legs. His hope of a perfect getaway had disappeared with Erin’s appearance.
Damn the bitch. How is it that she managed to appear from nowhere? He hoped he’d inflicted enough damage to kill her.
If only he hadn’t run out of the underwater titanium rounds. He’d expended too many into that gigantic dead shark. If he’d managed to kill the man in the submersible quickly, he would be on the other side of the sea already, only minutes away from escaping Troy and New Canaan forever.
Tony scanned the weeds. He’d only gone a short distance from the spot where he’d left the scooter and the picotech, but the visibility was bad. The murkiness was due to that wave that occurred just before Erin snuck up on him.
Dammit.
If her actions stopped him from getting away with the pico, he would hunt her down and kill her, no matter the cost to himself.
He spotted the long form of the scooter. Eagerly, he tore aside the plant life entangling it. Lifting up the scooter, he checked the bag hanging underneath. The shape of the picotech module was firm and reassuring.
I still have a chance.
He grabbed the handles and started up the machine. He faced Syracuse’s distant shore and let himself be pulled away. His shoulder continued to seep blood, but he doubted the wound was life-threatening, and he had more urgent concerns.
Erin had blown his cover entirely. Even if she died—and he sincerely hoped she would—her AI would know his identity. All his records would be minutely investigated, and though he’d covered his tracks extremely well, it was possible that sensitive, vital information might be uncovered. He could change his appearance and perhaps create an entirely new persona over time, but the exercise would be difficult if not impossible while on the run.
All his chances, all his efforts, all his time on New Canaan had come down to this one moment. He had to vanish with the picotech, and he had to do it immediately.
The scooter had transported him out of the zone of murky water. He could see farther into the distance, though not as far as his destination. The sea shore and his hidden pinnace lay another three kilometers away.
Tony tried to relax. Neither Erin nor that idiot husband of hers could catch him now, and even if they managed to alert a response team, no one knew where he was going.
He checked the news feed again. Pandemonium continued to reign in Heliopolis. He had done an excellent job of setting up the diversion. No reinforcements had arrived after he’d killed the guards and destroyed their ship, and he doubted anyone would be waiting for him at the farther shore.
Still, he couldn’t afford to let down his guard, though he was cautiously optimistic. Despite the wrinkle in his plan when the safari park’s submersible arrived, it seemed he was going to succeed anyway.
Peering ahead, he saw that the topography of the sea floor was beginning to rise as he neared the continent, and the plant life was changing. The water was growing warmer too.
Tony watched the meters counting down on
his scooter display. Not very far to go now. He checked his heading and altered it a little so that he would come to shore as close to the pinnace as possible.
The meters continued to drop away. The seabed was changing again. This area looked organized, as if someone had sculpted the place to look more formal. He saw seaweeds of the same kind grouped together and patterns in the sand.
What an unusual place.
Tony had never seen anything like it. He guessed it was an ornamental area of the underwater park.
He checked the display. Only three hundred meters to go. He was nearly there. He had the picotech, and all he’d suffered was one wound.
Pride formed a strange open-mouthed smile as he continued to let water flow down his throat so he could breathe. Myrrdan had set him a nearly impossible task, and he’d pulled it off. It had taken him years, granted, but he’d done it nevertheless. He wondered if anyone else could have achieved such a feat. Certainly not Erin. She might have defeated Hart’s weak attempt, but the second time around, she’d failed. And she’d been punished too.
She should have stuck to space stations and kept her nose out of things that didn’t concern—What’s that?
Part of the sea floor was lifting and transforming. Tony had been looking directly at the seaweed, pebbles, and rocks when it moved. It was changing to a uniform brown-grey and rising rapidly toward him. What had been the seabed now took the shape of a massive octopus.
“Ooof!”
The thing had wrapped itself around him. Its muscular arms were pressed against his body, flattening him against the scooter.
Tony writhed. He twisted. He pushed. He could not break free from the octopus’s powerful grip. He reached for his knife then remembered it was gone. Martin had taken it from him.
The pressure from the creature’s body was sending pangs of pain from his injured shoulder. Tony squirmed. He needed water in his lungs to breathe, but the octopus’s body was covering his head. He tried to lift his good arm to his face to push the creature away from his mouth, but it was pinned too tightly to the scooter.
